Sharks in the Water
by catlover1177
Summary: Heather Trent, fourteen years old. Likes drawing, swimming, and has a dangerous obsession with sharks. Rated T for language and violence. This story was inspired by Shark Week on Discovery Channel. Please R&R.
1. The Attack

One-year old Heather Trent was at the beach with her family. She and her mother were collecting seashells while her father sat under the umbrella. It was a pleasant day, and the waves were perfect for surfing. But one of those surfers would not live to catch another wave.

The lifeguard on duty was a bit bored. It had been a slow day, and he couldn't wait until his shift was over. Suddenly, something flashed in the water. He jerked his head toward it. There it was again, the tell-tale fin of a shark. He blew on his whistle and yelled the alarm.

Heather's mother, Vanessa, looked up sharply as she heard the yell. "Shark!" she grabbed Heather and ran a good distance from the shoreline. One surfer was not out of the water quick enough. He turned to paddle to shore, but the fin was only a few feet away. As if in slow motion, the shark jumped out of the water and snatched the man right off of his surfboard. Vanessa could hear her husband yelling that they had to go, but she could only think of Heather. _My poor baby must be traumatized. _But as she looked down at her daughter, what she saw made her blood run cold.

She was staring out at where the shark had been with a look of complete awe.


	2. An Unusual Child

On her first day of kindergarten, Heather was already deemed weird. All the children were to sit in a circle and say what their favorite animal was. The girls all chose cute, cuddly animals like bunnies and cats. But when it was Heather's turn, she said proudly, "Sharks." The teacher stared at her for a moment, then moved on to the next person.

Since none of the other girls shared her interests, Heather was the target of their teasing. They pulled her hair and called her 'Shark Bait'. Whenever they did this, she just bared her teeth and roared at them, grinning wickedly as they ran away shrieking.

* * *

In third grade, the art teacher asked the students to draw a picture of a marine animal. Heather drew a hammerhead shark that was so lifelike, half of the class was convinced that it would jump out of the paper and devour them. The teacher was impressed. It remained framed on the wall for years. Even back then, Heather was an amazing artist.

Of course, she was labeled as a tomboy, as she mostly wore boy's shirts. "Because," replied Heather when she was asked why she wouldn't wear something more girly, "not one shirt meant for girls has a single shark on it, and for the life of me I can't understand why." This resulted in more teasing, but she never let it get to her. "I've got my sharks and that's all I need." she would often say.

* * *

When she was in fifth grade, Heather wanted to get SCUBA certified, and was disappointed that she was too young. She loved going to the beach, and swam out as far as her parents would let her (farther when they weren't looking), hoping to glimpse a fin in the distance. Heather had been warned of the dangers of sharks, but she could only see the beauty and power of the creatures.

An unusual child she was, and her love for sharks was about to get a lot more dangerous.


	3. Crush

Heather walked into class on the first day of eighth grade and chose a seat next to a girl who was taking notes about the windows. Not the best choice, but better that the guy who was talking to his hand. She looked up as someone entered the room. Her breath caught in her throat. Xavier Campos. Last year he had caused her a little happiness and a whole lot of heartache. She had had a crush on him the entire year, but he never felt the same way. Heather had convinced herself she was over him, but seeing him again brought back all those feelings she was sure she had buried.

She refused to look at him, but still felt the blush crawling up the back of her neck. _Damn you, Xavier. Why must you be so cute? _She breathed a sigh of relief when class ended, and hurried to her locker. "Um, hello." said a voice behind her.

"Yeah?"

"I'm Sara Lockhart. I noticed your shirt." a girl with brown eyes and long black hair pointed to Heather's shirt, which bore the words "I Swim with Sharks". "I was wondering if you would want to join S.M.A.S.H, which stands for Studiers of Marine Agriculture and Sea-life. We added the H to sound cool. Meet us at the blue table in the cafeteria."

* * *

At lunch, she sat with S.M.A.S.H and chatted with the other members. Ryan had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, Sylvia, the exchange student with piercing green eyes, which made Heather feel that her own brown eyes were rather drab, and Lindsey, who had brown hair and hazel eyes. As Heather talked, she finally felt at home somewhere._ These are my people._ "Wait until you meet our president. He's awesome." Sara said eagerly. "Look, here he comes now."

Heather looked behind her and saw Xavier heading towards them, a smile on his face.

_Shit._


End file.
